Security forces on Tuesday gunned down two terrorists suspected to be behind the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit two days ago in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.
An army jawan was killed and another injured in the gunfight, police added.
The terrorists, who were identified as Aqib Mustaq Bhat from Pulwama and Aijaz Ahmad Bhat from Tral, were hiding in a mosque in Padgampora village in Awantipora when a joint team of the army, J&K Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched an operation based on specific inputs.
Additional director general of police (ADGP) Vijay Kumar said the terrorists were working with The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Besides the killing of bank employee Sanjay Sharma on Sunday, the terrorists were also involved in the killing of two migrant labourers at Lajoora in Pulwama on April 5 last year and a weapon snatching attempt at Tral on January 1 this year, police said.
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“Investigation so far revealed that both the terrorists had come together to conspire and attack minorities, outsiders, other vulnerable targets and security forces,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
Providing details of the encounter, the spokesperson said: “Based on specific inputs, joint forces of Army, J&K Police and CRPF launched a cordon in Padgampora village of Awantipora. During the search, terrorists hiding inside a mosque opened indiscriminate fire upon search parties and in this initial exchange of fire, two jawans of the army sustained grievous injuries while neutralising one terrorist on spot. One of the jawans later succumbed to injuries.”
The spokesperson added that the forces exercised extreme caution and safely evacuated civilians who were inside the mosque. “Civilians praying inside the mosque were evacuated on time, preventing any collateral damage. Resuming the search for the second terrorist who had holed up inside a bathroom of an adjacent building, again caution was exercised and 14 civilians were rescued from the place before he was neutralised,” the statement said.
ADGP Kumar said the operation was a complex one and that the forces defused any possibility of a hostage situation and also maintained the sanctity of the mosque.
“The terrorists were killed within 48 hours after the killing of Sanjay Sharma,” he said.
Sharma, a Kashmiri Pandit and resident of Achan in Pulwama, was fired upon by terrorists when he was on his way to a local market on Sunday. The 45-year-old, who worked as a bank security guard, succumbed to injuries in the hospital.
The targeted killing of yet another member of the minority community triggered fresh protests in the Valley on Monday, as political parties hit out at the government for claiming normalcy has returned to the region, and members of the community demanded the removal of Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha.
Sunday’s killing, the first of a Pandit since October 2022, took the number of people from the community to fall to terror since last year to five. In addition, eight migrant workers have also been killed in attacks, all of which have been carried out by terror groups.
Police said Aqib Mustaq was an A category terrorist while Aijaz Ahmad belonged to the C category (A line on explaining the categories). Both were active since January 2021 and May 2022, respectively.
“Aqib Mustaq Bhat of Pulwama was an A category militant. He initially worked for Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit but off late, was working with TRF. The other terrorist was associated with Jaish and was also working with TRF. Both were behind Sharma’s killing,” Kumar said.
An AK-47 rifle, AK-74 rifle, one pistol, three grenades, two pouches, five AK magazines, two pistol magazines, 103 AK rounds, 20 pistol rounds and two Aadhaar cards were recovered from the site of the encounter, the spokesperson said.